EP0323845B1 - Appareil pour tourner une image optique et système optique pour focaliser des rayons lumineux sur un moyen d'enregistrement - Google Patents

Appareil pour tourner une image optique et système optique pour focaliser des rayons lumineux sur un moyen d'enregistrement Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0323845B1
EP0323845B1 EP89100155A EP89100155A EP0323845B1 EP 0323845 B1 EP0323845 B1 EP 0323845B1 EP 89100155 A EP89100155 A EP 89100155A EP 89100155 A EP89100155 A EP 89100155A EP 0323845 B1 EP0323845 B1 EP 0323845B1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
light
light beams
rotating
recording medium
focusing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP89100155A
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German (de)
English (en)
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EP0323845A2 (fr
EP0323845A3 (en
Inventor
Yutaka Yamanaka
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
NEC Corp
Original Assignee
NEC Corp
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Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from JP63002325A external-priority patent/JPH0792554B2/ja
Priority claimed from JP15811488A external-priority patent/JPH028811A/ja
Application filed by NEC Corp filed Critical NEC Corp
Publication of EP0323845A2 publication Critical patent/EP0323845A2/fr
Publication of EP0323845A3 publication Critical patent/EP0323845A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0323845B1 publication Critical patent/EP0323845B1/fr
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B7/12—Heads, e.g. forming of the optical beam spot or modulation of the optical beam
    • G11B7/14—Heads, e.g. forming of the optical beam spot or modulation of the optical beam specially adapted to record on, or to reproduce from, more than one track simultaneously
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B17/00—Systems with reflecting surfaces, with or without refracting elements
    • G02B17/02—Catoptric systems, e.g. image erecting and reversing system
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B7/002—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier
    • G11B7/0025—Recording, reproducing or erasing systems characterised by the shape or form of the carrier with cylinders or cylinder-like carriers or cylindrical sections or flat carriers loaded onto a cylindrical surface, e.g. truncated cones
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B7/12—Heads, e.g. forming of the optical beam spot or modulation of the optical beam
    • G11B7/135—Means for guiding the beam from the source to the record carrier or from the record carrier to the detector
    • G11B7/1359—Single prisms
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B7/00—Recording or reproducing by optical means, e.g. recording using a thermal beam of optical radiation by modifying optical properties or the physical structure, reproducing using an optical beam at lower power by sensing optical properties; Record carriers therefor
    • G11B7/12—Heads, e.g. forming of the optical beam spot or modulation of the optical beam
    • G11B7/135—Means for guiding the beam from the source to the record carrier or from the record carrier to the detector
    • G11B7/1372—Lenses
    • G11B2007/13727—Compound lenses, i.e. two or more lenses co-operating to perform a function, e.g. compound objective lens including a solid immersion lens, positive and negative lenses either bonded together or with adjustable spacing

Definitions

  • the invention relates to an apparatus for rotating a light image and to an optical system for focusing light beams on a recording medium, and more particularly to an apparatus through which a light image is transmitted to be rotated by a predetermined angle on a plane orthogonal to a light axis of the light image and to an optical system in which a plurality of light beams to be focused on a recording medium is rotated by the apparatus.
  • an optical system such as a laser printer, an optical head etc. in which a plurality of light beams radiated from a plurality of light emitting sources are focused on a recording medium by a focusing lens has been studied for the purpose of a high speed and functionable performance based on a parallel light beam operation.
  • This type of an optical head in which two light beams are focused on a recording medium comprises a semiconductor laser array for emitting two light beams, a collimating lens for collimating the two light beams, a beam splitter for transmitting the two light beams therethrough and reflecting two light beams reflected from a recording medium, a focusing lens for focusing the two light beams transmitted through the beam splitter on the recording medium, and an optical detecting system in which the two light beams reflected from the beam splitter are received to read information from the recording medium and to detect focusing and tracking errors.
  • the two light beams are radiated from the semiconductor laser array, and then collimated by the collimating lens.
  • the two light beams thus collimated are transmitted through the beam splitter, and then focused on the recording medium by the focusing lens.
  • the two light beams are reflected from the recording medium, and then collimated by the focusing lens.
  • the two light beams propagated in the reverse direction are reflected in the direction of the optical detecting system by the beam splitter, so that information is read from the recording medium in the optical detecting system, and focusing and tracking errors are detected therein.
  • the focusing lens is controlled to be corrected in its position based on the focusing and tracking errors by an actuator.
  • optical head which comprises first and second semiconductor lasers in place of the semiconductor laser array, and further comprises a collimating lens for collimating light beam radiated from the second semiconductor laser, a wedge prism positioned on a light path of the light beam from the second semiconductor laser and for rotating a line connecting two beam spots defined on the recording medium by focusing light beams from the first and second semiconductor lasers thereon, and an optical combiner for combining the two light beams from the first and second semiconductor lasers.
  • the light beam which is radiated from the first semiconductor laser and then collimated by the collimating lens, and the light beam which is radiated from the second semiconductor laser and then collimated by the added collimating lens are combined by the optical combiner, so that the two light beams thus combined are transmitted through the beam splitter to perform the same operation as that explained in the former optical head.
  • the two light beams which are radiated from the semiconductor laser array and the first and second semiconductor lasers are utilized.
  • four light beams are utilized, so that four beam spots are defined on four corresponding tracks of the recording medium. Even if the four beam spots are exactly positioned on the corresponding tracks, some of the spots are deviated off the tracks due to the mechanical precision of the optical head when it is moved to access the recording medium.
  • Such a deviation of beam spots are corrected in accordance with the rotation of a whole optical head in case of the former optical head, and an angular motion of the wedge prism in case of the latter optical head, so that an angle of the line connecting the two beam spots is controlled relative to a track of the recording medium to result in the exact position of the beam spots on corresponding tracks.
  • the wedge prism system as explained above is described on pages 121 to 126 of the report in "Optical memory symposium '86" held on December 17, 1986 in Tokyo.
  • DE-A-38 04 701 discloses an apparatus for rotating a light image comprising means for radiating a parallel light beam along a reference axis, a prism having an odd number of reflection planes each of which has a normal included in a predetermined plane which also includes the reference axis, the optical medium being arranged to receive the parallel light beam and to transmit an output light beam parallel to the reference axis, and a holder for holding and rotating said optical medium.
  • DE-A-3 245 477 discloses an image rotating optical system provided with an imaging optical element for forming an image, an image rotating optical element rotatable about the optical axis of the imaging optical element to rotate the light beam therefrom and a light shield element positioned between the imaging optical element and the image rotating optical element and rotatable about the optical axis with the rotation of the image rotating optical element, to correct the unevenness in the illuminance caused by the image rotating optical element.
  • Fig. 1 shows the former optical head which comprises a semiconductor laser array 21 for emitting two light beams, a collimating lens 22 for collimating the two light beams, a beam splitter 23 for transmitting the two light beams therethrough and reflecting two light beams reflected from a recording medium 27, a focusing lens 25 for focusing the two light beams transmitted through the beam splitter 23 on the recording medium 27, and an optical detecting system 29 for receiving the two light beams reflected from the beam splitter 23 to read information from the recording medium 27 and to detect focusing and tracking errors.
  • the two light beams shown by solid and dotted lines are radiated from the semiconductor laser array 21, and then collimated by the collimating lens 22.
  • the two light beams thus collimated are transmitted through the beam splitter 23, and then focused on the recording medium 27 by the focusing lens 25.
  • the two light beams are reflected from the recording medium 27, and then collimated by the focusing lens 25.
  • the two light beams propagated in the reverse direction are reflected in the direction of the optical detecting system 29 by the beam splitter 23, so that information is read from the recording medium 27 in the optical detecting system 29, and focusing and tracking errors are detected therein.
  • the focusing lens 25 is controlled to be corrected in its position based on the focusing and tracking errors by an actuator (not shown).
  • Fig. 2 shows the aforementioned latter optical head wherein like parts are indicated by like reference numerals in Fig. 1.
  • the latter optical head comprises semiconductor lasers 30 and 30A in place of the semiconductor laser array 21, and further comprises a collimating lens 22A for collimating light beam radiated from the semiconductor laser 30A, a wedge prism 32 positioned on a light path of the light beam from the semiconductor laser 30A and for rotating a line connecting beam spots defined on the recording medium 27 by focusing light beams from the semiconductor lasers 30 and 30A thereon, and an optical combiner 31 for combining the light beams from the semiconductor lasers 30 and 30A.
  • the light beam which is radiated from the semiconductor laser 30 and then collimated by the collimating lens 22, and the light beam which is radiated from the semiconductor laser 30A and then collimated by the collimating lens 22A are combined by the optical combiner 31, so that the two light beams thus combined are transmitted through the beam splitter 23 to perform the same operation as that explained in Fig. 1.
  • Figs. 1 and 2 the two light beams which are radiated from the semiconductor laser array 21 and the semiconductor lasers 30 and 30A are utilized.
  • four light beams are utilized, so that four beam spots 35 are defined on four corresponding tracks 36 of the recording medium 27 as shown in Fig. 3A.
  • Such a deviation of beam spots are corrected in accordance with the rotation of a whole optical head in case of the optical head which is shown in Fig. 1, and an angular motion of the wedge prism 32 as shown by an accurate arrow A in case of the optical head which is shown in Fig. 2, so that an angle ⁇ is controlled from a state in Fig. 3B to that in Fig. 3A.
  • the optical system is adapted to an optical head including an optical disk, it can be applied to a laser printer including a photosensitive drum and so on.
  • the optical head comprises a semiconductor laser array 21 for emitting two light beams shown by solid and dotted lines, a collimating lens 22 for collimating the two light beams, a beam splitter 23 for transmitting the two light beams and for reflecting two light beams reflected from the recording medium (optical disk) 27 in a predetermined direction, a light image rotating means 24 for rotating a line connecting two beam spots defined on the recording medium 27 by focusing the two light beams thereon, a focusing lens 25 for focusing the two light beams on the recording medium 27, a focusing lens 37 for focusing the two light beams reflected by the beam splitter 23, photodetectors 28A and 28B for converting the two light beams to two electric signals, a differential amplifier 38 for producing control signals to control the light image rotating means 24 based on the two electric signals, and an actuator 26 for moving the focusing lens 25 to correct focusing and tracking errors.
  • Figs. 5A and 5B show the light image rotating means which is shown in Fig. 4.
  • the light image rotating means comprises a holder 9 made of a material through which light transmits and for containing a Dove prism 1 (to be explained later in more detail) on a light axis 2, a rotating shaft 11 around which the holder 9 is rotated, a pair of voice coils 10 provided on both sides of the holder 9, and a pair of magnet cores 12 each fixed by a corresponding fixed member 13 and positioned substantially inside the corresponding voice coil 10.
  • an output light beam is rotated by an angle as twice as a rotating angle of the Dove prism 1 because this is identical to a control in which X and Y axis are rotated simultaneously.
  • Fig. 7 shows an example in which the light beams 3 having different incident angles are supplied to a Dove prism (not shown).
  • the Dove prism is rotated by an angle ⁇ as shown by a dotted line
  • two output light beams 4 are rotated by an angle 2 ⁇ as shown by a solid line.
  • the difference of beam directions results in the difference of focused beam spot positions. Therefore, a line connecting focused beam spots is rotated in the presence of a Dove prism which is inserted into a light path of the optical head in the embodiment according to the invention as shown in Fig. 4.
  • two light beams are radiated from the semiconductor laser array 21, and then collimated by the collimating lens 22.
  • the two light beams thus collimated are transmitted through the beam splitter 23 and the light image rotating means 24, and then focused on the recording medium 27 by the focusing lens 25.
  • two beam spots are defined on corresponding tracks of the recording medium 27, respectively.
  • Two light beams reflected from the recording medium 27 are propagated in the reverse direction, and then reflected to be separated from each other. The separated two light beams are focused on corresponding photodetectors 28A and 28B by the focusing lens 37.
  • tracking error signal is produced to drive the actuator 26, so that the focusing lens 25 is moved to a predetermined extent based on the tracking error signal.
  • the two beam spots are moved in a parallel manner.
  • differential signal is produced in the differential amplifier to which two tracking error signals are supplied, so that the light image rotating means 24 is rotated around the rotating shaft 11 in a manner that different currents are flowed through the voice coils 10 based on the differential signal, whereby different mechanical forces are produced between opposite sides of the holder 9 in accordance with mutual electromagnetic actions between the voice coils 10 and the magnet cores 12. Accordingly, a line connecting the two beam spots (in other words, "beam spot array”) is rotated on the recording medium 27, so that the two beam spots are controlled to be exactly positioned on respective corresponding tracks.
  • the Dove prism 1 may be replaced by another optical medium.
  • Such an optical medium is only required in its construction and property to provide an output light beam having a relation of a mirror symmetry relative to an incident light beam.
  • a triangle prism 7 and a variation prism 8 can be applied to the apparatus and system in the invention.
  • the bottom plane is a plane for reflection
  • the variation prism 8 has three reflection planes of the bottom and two rear planes.
  • directions of output light beams can be changed.
  • the center position of the output light beam is shifted in a parallel manner, the influence of the parallel shift can be negligible in the range of a small rotation angle, if a collimated light beam having a large beam diameter is used therein.
  • light axes of incident and output light beams may be parallel, and propagating directions thereof are reverse, as being different from those in the aforementioned embodiment.
  • the number of light beams is two, it may be more than three.
  • a semiconductor laser array is used for a light source, a plurality of separate light sources may be used.

Claims (4)

  1. Dispositif pour faire tourner une image lumineuse comprenant :
       un moyen (21, 22) pour émettre un faisceau lumineux parallèle suivant un axe de référence (2),
       un support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) comportant un nombre impair n de plans de réflexion (6A, 6B, 6C) dont chacun présente une perpendiculaire incluse dans un plan prédéterminé qui comporte également l'axe de référence (2), le support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) étant disposé pour recevoir le faisceau lumineux parallèle et pour transmettre un faisceau lumineux de sortie parallèle à l'axe de référence (2),
       un dispositif de maintien (9) maintenant ledit support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) et étant prévu pour faire tourner le support optique autour d'une ligne parallèle à l'axe de référence (2),
       caractérisé par,
       un arbre (11) disposé suivant ladite ligne parallèle à l'axe de référence (2), placé à l'extérieur dudit support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) sur lequel ledit dispositif de maintien (9) avec ledit support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) est monté de manière à tourner.
  2. Dispositif pour faire tourner une image lumineuse selon la revendication 1,
       dans lequel ledit support optique (1; 6A, 6B, 6C) comporte un nombre pair m de plans de réflexion, chacun desdits m plans de réflexion ayant une perpendiculaire incluse dans un plan comportant ledit axe de lumière de référence (2) autre que ledit plan prédéterminé.
  3. Dispositif pour faire tourner une image lumineuse selon la revendication 1 ou 2,
       dans lequel ledit moyen pour effectuer la rotation comporte un ensemble d'une bobine d'aimant (10) et d'un noyau d'aimant (12) pour produire une force de rotation appliquée audit dispositif de maintien (9).
  4. Système optique pour focaliser des faisceaux lumineux sur un support d'enregistrement comprenant un dispositif selon l'une quelconque des revendications 1 à 3, et
       une lentille de focalisation (25) pour focaliser ledit faisceau de lumière de sortie sur ledit support d'enregistrement (27),
       ledit support optique (1 ; 6A, 6B, 6C) étant positionné entre ledit moyen d'émission (21, 22) et ladite lentille de focalisation (25).
EP89100155A 1988-01-07 1989-01-05 Appareil pour tourner une image optique et système optique pour focaliser des rayons lumineux sur un moyen d'enregistrement Expired - Lifetime EP0323845B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP2325/88 1988-01-07
JP63002325A JPH0792554B2 (ja) 1988-01-07 1988-01-07 複数ビーム集光光学装置
JP15811488A JPH028811A (ja) 1988-06-28 1988-06-28 像回転アクチュエータ装置および複数ビーム集光光学装置
JP158114/88 1988-06-28

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0323845A2 EP0323845A2 (fr) 1989-07-12
EP0323845A3 EP0323845A3 (en) 1989-11-23
EP0323845B1 true EP0323845B1 (fr) 1994-08-03

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EP89100155A Expired - Lifetime EP0323845B1 (fr) 1988-01-07 1989-01-05 Appareil pour tourner une image optique et système optique pour focaliser des rayons lumineux sur un moyen d'enregistrement

Country Status (3)

Country Link
US (1) US4960313A (fr)
EP (1) EP0323845B1 (fr)
DE (1) DE68917158T2 (fr)

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JP2711155B2 (ja) * 1989-10-20 1998-02-10 富士写真フイルム株式会社 光ビーム走査装置
JP2984306B2 (ja) * 1990-03-15 1999-11-29 キヤノン株式会社 焦点調節装置を有する画像読取装置
US5196866A (en) * 1991-03-15 1993-03-23 Eastman Kodak Company Focus fiber mount
EP0558249B1 (fr) * 1992-02-28 1998-08-26 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Appareil d'enregistrement/reproduction d'informations optiques
US5475416A (en) * 1992-06-03 1995-12-12 Eastman Kodak Company Printing system for printing an image with lasers emitting diverging laser beams
DE59208403D1 (de) * 1992-09-07 1997-05-28 Gretag Imaging Ag Optisches Abbildungssystem
JPH0832775A (ja) * 1994-07-14 1996-02-02 Hitachi Koki Co Ltd 電子写真装置の露光装置
US5877806A (en) * 1994-10-31 1999-03-02 Ohtsuka Patent Office Image sensing apparatus for obtaining high resolution computer video signals by performing pixel displacement using optical path deflection
JPH08265519A (ja) * 1995-03-22 1996-10-11 Brother Ind Ltd 光学走査装置
US5677763A (en) * 1996-08-08 1997-10-14 Technology Resources, Inc. Optical device for measuring physical and optical characteristics of an object
JP3193668B2 (ja) * 1997-06-17 2001-07-30 旭光学工業株式会社 透過型光学偏向装置
US6449225B1 (en) * 1999-08-13 2002-09-10 Zen Research (Ireland), Ltd. Method and apparatus for reading multiple tracks of an optical disk
EP2657686B1 (fr) * 2012-04-26 2019-08-14 Brodmann Technologies GmbH Dispositif de détection de lumière diffusée avec un prisme rotatif

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US3647961A (en) * 1970-04-09 1972-03-07 Western Electric Co T.v. -aided flaw detection using rotating image techniques
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Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE68917158T2 (de) 1995-03-30
DE68917158D1 (de) 1994-09-08
EP0323845A2 (fr) 1989-07-12
EP0323845A3 (en) 1989-11-23
US4960313A (en) 1990-10-02

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